


Eyeliner

by MountainMew



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Emetophobia (CH1)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-09
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-06-01 03:45:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6499540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MountainMew/pseuds/MountainMew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>an endless journey to discover what it means to be a good brother</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dog Days for a Cat Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know if people realize how close to reality my fics are, but pretty much anything I write about has some basis in my real life, altho some aren’t directly connected to me. Some of it is stuff my friends and family have done and told me about, a lot of it’s me. Like, at least 50% of my fics are about taking walks wonder why spoilers all I ever do is walk. I take like ten walks a week. 90% of dates I’ve been on? Walks. I’m that guy who puts “likes long walks on the beach” on they EH profile.  
> What does that have to do with me an tennriku, you might ask? EVERYTHING. I AM SUFFERING! I want to ship tennriku and see them kiss and be cute but guess fuckin what i CANT because i have siblings and i cant just... disassociate that from tennriku i HATE THIS! DAMN SINGLE CHILDREN AND THEIR ABILITY TO GUILT FREE SHIP THIS!  
> I couldn’t write a romantic fic for these two and frankly I dont think I ever will. That’s fine tho, because I have the advantage here. I can’t give you, like, riku kissin tenn in inappropriate ways bUT i can! give you the cutest little oneshots about bein family! and what could be better than that! i hope yall enjoy! having brothers is not fun and i dont recommend it anyway!

  Riku holds himself close in bed, trying his best not to breath nor swallow once more. That fails at every attempt, himself taking deep breaths and regretting it immediately after. And that, itself, is a difficult task with a nose stuffed to the brim with snot and a throat drowning in mucus. _Who needs to eat,_ he thinks, not when his body is supplying enough mucus to feed a small country. Throat aside, the trashcan overflowing was just further proof, changed nearly hourly. _And_ , he thinks, if he were a bit more famous, people would be paying good money for those trashbags, while he can’t wait for the day they cease.  
  Tenn smiles down at him, looking like an angel when he let’s himself go. Or maybe a bit more cynical than that. It’s hard to say, he doesn’t shine enough off stage, but he sure has been beaming a lot at home.  
  “Do you want to go to the hospital,” He teases. “Don’t you worry! Doctor Brother is here to take care of you!”  
  Riku could feel himself lightening up, just for a moment, a smile burning through the hospital mask. Somehow, even writhing at the scent of latex gloves and fresh-fresh-fresh washed sheets, Tenn had some air of safety in his white scrubs a nurse never does.  
  All that positivity quickly falls to pieces as Riku coughs, the scratch to his throat taking his happiness along with it. _This isn’t fair!_ He can’t even argue with his throat burning and his voice lost in snot.  
  Tenn tosses himself on the bedside, pointing to Riku with the end of a rose. “Don’t worry,” he says again, “You can thank me later. Do you want some medicine?”  
  Riku manages to groan a little, reaching for the bag by his pillow. “No! No! Don’t I take enough medicine already?” He whines, “I’m totally,” _Cough_ , “Totally fine!”  
  “You sound like a train wreck,” Tenn laughs, gently to himself, “How many of those have you had?”  
  With great frustration at his own inability to work his hands, Riku unwraps another worthless cough drop like it were candy. “A few,” He says, kindly not mentioning the amount he’s coughed up. Worthless, worthless candy drops.  
  Examining the wrapper, he soon pulls up his hand. “You too,” He says.  
  And Tenn does the same, lifts up his hand to match Riku’s. It’s easy to forget, how their everything is the same, how without the mask and ill-ridden eyes on Riku that Tenn would be looking in a mirror. Riku presses his hand against Tenn's, tilts his head hiding the sun beneath that mask.  
  He turns the wrapper, so the text faces Tenn. “It said to give yourself a high-five, see.”  
  Tenn covers his face, trying too hard not to burst, “That’s so incredibly lame, even for you.” He spits between giggles.  
  “It’s supposed to be inspiring! See, I gotta be a _‘go getter,’_ right!” He holds his coughs until he finishes. Tenn refrains from offering cough medicine that actually works.  
  “Whatever makes you feel better, I guess.” He shrugs, lifts himself up. “I was making some soup for you, it should be done soon so I’m gonna check on it. Don’t die while I’m gone.”  
  Riku whines to himself, wishing his decaying brain could come up with come backs faster than Tenn could leave.  
  
  “Here, sorry it’s not as bland as hospital food.” Tenn says, resting a mug on Riku’s chest.  
  “Oh, thank you.” He says, or at least kind of says. Riku’s voice is all over the place, sometimes too loud and more often right now too quiet.  
  “Do you need me to feed you or something?”  
  “No, no. It’s just...” Just what, exactly? He lost his thoughts entirely, mindlessly resting the mug to his side to get up and rest next to his messily improvised trashcan. Suddenly, the sensational realization that he hadn’t eaten a thing all day hit his gut like a brick before hacking into the can.  
  “R-Riku are you okay? Ah, here,” Tenn leans over his brother before finishing the thought, wiping his face with tissues.  
  “I’m fine! One hundred percent!” Riku boasts, falling over as soon as attempts to get up. He laughs, as if he hadn’t been sick at all, wiping his face again with his sleeve.  
  “Geez,” Tenn sighs, grabbing Riku by the arms to keep him balanced, “What am I gonna do with you?”  
  
  “Brother!” Riku shouts into his empty room. “Broooo~ther!”  
  Riku had sent his brother all kinds of useless messages since he left, things like _your soup is the best soup I’ve ever had_ and _this cough drop said to flex my get better muscles~_ without any response. Perhaps because he’d been sleeping on and off all day he had been feeling exceptionally energetic tonight. And alongside that, exceptionally bored.  
  Tenn eventually comes to his aid, only after the twentieth or so time Riku had called his name. The twentieth or so being the first time Tenn actually heard him.  
  “Are you alright, Riku? Do you need something?”  
  “Do you wanna play a game? Or something?”  
  “Riku...”  
  “C’mon!” Riku says, with more vigor than a person lying in a bed of tissues should have. Tenn approaches Riku’s side, puts a fresh tissue to his leaky nose as if there won’t be plenty more to come.  
  “You’re wasting a pretty face on this cold. You should sleep so you feel better.”  
  “I feel fine! Great!” Riku says, dramatically flexing his arm, not going to mention how dizzy he gets when he stands.  
  “Sure you are. Fine, fine, what do you want to play?”  
  Riku jumps up at the response, loses his balance even in bed, doesn’t actually have any game in particular in mind. It doesn’t take much, not even a few minutes, before Riku starts dozing off again, on his brothers shoulder.  
  “Geez, you’re such a handful. I’m gonna get sick, too, if you don’t stop.”  
  “Then I’ll get better real fast so I can make soup for you, too!”  
  Tenn laughs, wraps his arm around his brother. “Fine, I guess I can get sick, too.” He warms his own heart at the thought, of someone as clumsy as Riku fiddling about the kitchen. Makes himself a good pillow for his totally dying brother. Doesn’t complain at the excessive accumulation of drool that accompanies such sickly sleeping habits, or the gargling snores that keep him up throughout the night. He recollects better memories, ones on hospital beds and high up roof tops. Tenn knew how much his brother couldn’t stand being hospital bound so frequently, remembers making games out of the equipment they were allowed to mess with. He remembers drawing monster faces on hospital masks and making balloons out of gloves.  
  "Your soup..." Riku trails off, half asleep still against his brothers shoulder. "It was really good. I'm sorry, I'm getting snot all over your shirt." He tries to laugh, without hurting himself. Falls back to sleep just as soon as he woke up. Does the same sleep talking bit on and off throughout the night.  
  Being sick isn’t quite as clean or fun now that Riku’s old enough to refuse leaving, and Tenn doesn’t really mind tending to his brother if he can. But he admits, the smell of a hospital is a lot more refreshing than snot and spit.  
  But when he recovers, he’ll have the brightest smile on his face, because of Tenn. And that’s enough reason to keep at it, he thinks. Enough of a well wish to fall asleep to, at least.  
  "It's fine, Riku." He says, resting his head on Riku's overheating one. "Cause you got the best doctor and brother to look after you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does Japan have motivational cough drops because I wrote this after being seriously sick and literally all I ate one day was like ten of the motivational cough drops and got all inspired by how cute and sweet they were... Yeah, I CAN do this! Thank you cough drop! I had to include it...  
> I decided to refrain from getting too gross in this fic but it's really genuine like I said I wrote it after being extremely sick so it's all pretty accurate. My brother left when I was sick, tho, but he made me the best soup I had in my entire life that day and I cried on it after throwing up it was a great time!  
> yknow another odd thing i dunno is jp people really refer to their siblings as "brother" or "sister" a lot or if thats an anime thing but it really doesnt translate at all cause ive never called my siblings brother/sister to them unless i was makin a joke lol but i decided Riku would... Tenn-nii.... what a goof www
> 
> Leave a comment! Feel free to tell me all your gross having a cold stories! Or just tell me about how you, also, hate how having siblings keeps you from sinning www  
> (seriously tho no disrespect on tennriku ship i just.... cant do it im sorry i TRIED!!! platonic ships are cool too!! ;w;)


	2. Raspbeary Tea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently, it was siblings day yesterday. But all my sibs are gone right now and hell only one of them text me! The jerks! The dastards! I was busy spring cleaning and being overall sleepy as heck, but I wrote a bit...  
> I had a.... fight? I guess? With my brother a while back. We didn’t actually fight. But I thought he was mad at me so I didn’t talk to him for two days and avoided him those two days. Those are the kind of lame things siblings do, I guess. But it was a nightmare! I could fight with friends and feel less awkward! But the weird thing about sibling fights is they never get resolved? You just start being okay with eachother again? Except me I’m emotional I ask... “You aren’t still mad at me, right?! ;w;” “what are you talking about i never was.... tori....” BASICALLY...  
> I’ve been slowly reading all the rabbit chat translations between work and cleaning and all... I thought the one about tenn having pictures of riku was cute... Unfortunately, the older you get the more petty la familia fights can be. "wtf you blocked me on twitter? bye." wwww  
> Anyway... Enjoy more cuties...

  Riku clutches his newly opened present in his arms, spinning around a bit with it before turning to his brother. Shoving the stuffed bear in his face, he says, “Look! Look brother! Isn’t it cute! Thank you, thank you!” His thoughts burst out at a thousand beats per second, his brain lacking any ability to focus at all.  
  Tenn refrains from saying anything too disrespectful around their family, tilting his head back with a concerned glare to his mother before responding. “Yeah, I guess.”  
  “Aww, come on. It’s super cute, right?”  
  “Isn’t it kind of girly to like something for being cute?”  
  “No! No way!” Riku laughs, “It’s like the cute monster side kick in hero shows, of course!”  
  Tenn sighs into himself. But it’s not a bad sight, here, to see Riku happy about something silly as a toy bear. Maybe a little painful, that at this age they’ve never been allowed that luxury. He can vividly remember just how ecstatic Riku would get over gifts and toys at the hospital this time of year, but they were always so safely cleaned and made for children like Riku. Tenn wondered if something from outside that bubble was worth trusting, but for now, that it kept a bright smile on his little brothers face, that was something he wanted to protect.  
  _Snap_  
  “Hey, stop taking pictures when I’m not paying attention! You’re gonna take my soul with that thing~”  
  Tenn smirks over the camera, practically reminiscing over a moment that just happened as if it were years ago.  
  “Even though you’re always smiling, I like to remember what makes you smile the most, you know.”  
  “That’s so weird. Big brother is a super weirdo, huh~”  
  Riku wraps his arm around Tenn, before he has time to retort, and snatches his camera from his hands.  
  “Let me take pictures of you, too! C’mon, open another present, brother!”  
  
  “Y’know, I hear stuffed animals are prone to collecting dust...”  
  Riku looks up from his plate, the bear held tightly to his chest.  
  “What’s that supposed to mean?”   
  “Nothing.” Tenn looks down, moreso to avoid Riku than out of defeat.  
  The night goes on, a little abnormal and quiet, but it goes none-the-less. And even if he really didn’t mean anything by that comment, he’s more than a little aware of Riku’s determination to prove him wrong regardless. Actually, it might have been a bit counterproductive of him, as Riku’s taken to clutching on to that bear a lot tighter than before he mentioned the subject. Takes it everywhere but the bathroom, really.  
  And Tenn’s not ignorant, either, to how much more frequently Riku’s coughing. Riku doesn’t falter, not even a bit. Knits his brows and smiles just enough to say _I won’t give up!_  
  
  Riku starts coughing. He starts coughing, and doesn’t quite stop. Not for one minute. Not for two. Not for five. Not for...  
  “Riku, are you okay? Hold on, I’ll get–”  
  “S-stop, I–I’m f-fine!”  
  He most definitely isn’t fine, but Tenn doesn’t have the heart to deny his brother that much. Patting his back, he helps walk his brother outside, for fresh air. Helps him breath the way he’s seen his parents do time and time again, but it doesn’t really feel all too real to him when he’s the one keeping his brother alive.  
  Tenn covers Riku’s mouth with his hand. “Breath.”  
  He does, rather sporadically at first before taking any real deep breaths. Takes a lot of long, quiet breaths before grabbing his brothers hand. “C’mon, I’m fine.”  
  Riku’s heart rate never really slows down, but he’s breathing a bit closer to normal, which is satisfying enough for Tenn. There’s a gentle breeze about the air, a tad too warm for the end of winter.  
  “See?”  
  Riku coughs a bit more, rests his head on his brother’s. “See what?”  
  “The bear.” He says.  
  “What about it?”  
  “Don’t pretend you don’t know.”  
  Tenn flicks his brothers nose, a bit inconsiderate coming from his caretaker. Scrunching his face in thought, Riku finally remembers what his brother refers to. “Oh, the bear! It’s not bad, seriously!”  
  “Riku, you should really take your health more seriously. What if I wasn’t there just now?”  
  “Even if there are things that are bad for my health, isn’t it okay to be spoiled every now and again?”  
  Tenn looks to his brother as if he had said the stupidest thing in the world, and without much thought at all pushes himself up and breaks for their room. “H-hey, wait!” And Riku tries to beat him, despite the recent attack. His dearest caretaker could be truly vile, sometimes, he thinks.  
  “Tenn! Stop it!”  
  Riku manages to meet him just before the door, pulling his sleeve to a full halt. He pushes his brother down before grabbing something-or-another to play as his weapon. “Stop right there, evil doer!” He says, phoning in some kind of deep, heroic accent. “How dare you bully this innocent bear!”  
  Tenn can’t really help himself, from covering his face and laughing at his childish little brother. And, while of course he had to play his part, it was hard not to grab his camera off the table by the door and capture the moment.  
  “H-hey! What did I say about pictures!” Riku forgets his tone for that one. Finds it before continuing, “Of course! Just like a villain to capture his prey in it’s weakest moment, right!”  
  “That’s right!” Tenn sets down his camera, tries his hand at a phony evil laugh, “Now that you’ve been weakened, I’ll be taking the beautiful Princess Bear all for myself~”  
  Tenn grabs his own something-or-another sword stand in before charging at his brother, the two duking it out beneath the supposed ‘princess.’ It doesn’t take a lot of effort, even as Tenn holds back his strength, for him to overtake Riku.  
  “Hey, hey! No fair! A hero always wins, idiot! You’re supposed to let me–” Riku doesn’t get to finish, before his brother snatches the stuffed bear off the floor.  
  “But the bear is the real villain, here, so I’m the real hero, right.”  
  “You’re so, so wrong! Idiot brother! Give it back!”  
  Tenn jumps onto their bed to keep the bear out of Riku’s reach, stretching his arm high above his head. What a pain, right? Why won’t Riku just consider for a second that his health is more important than these little troublemakers?  
  “C’mon! Idiot, give it back already!” Riku’s voice starts to fail him as he feels tears welling in his eyes. Tenn grabs his brothers hands before sitting on the edge of the bed, wiping Riku's tears gently with his sleeve.  
  “You’re the only idiot brother here.”  
  
  And Tenn absolutely will not change his mind about giving the bear back to their relative. Riku cried the whole day, in fact. Almost enough for their mother to lose resolve over the rest of them, but she never really does. Tells little lies as they come to her, like how she’ll buy him a safer stuffed toy that won’t induce his attacks. Tenn would never allow even that, quite settled in the idea all stuffed animals and _especially_ bears are a no-go.  
  Really, Tenn can handle a few tears, because of course Riku will get over it soon enough. It’s not the first thing he’s had to confiscate from his brother, after all.  
  It’s not the tears that get to Tenn, not one bit. But the way Riku hasn’t said a word to him the entire day. Not just the day, but the entire night, too. And even the next morning, Riku won’t even answer his brothers “How are you’s” and “Did you sleep alright’s?”  
  Honestly, what a mess those damned troublemakers put him in.  
  
  “Hey,” Tenn says, poking at Riku’s side. “Hey. Hey. Are you still mad at me?” No response. “C’mon, seriously? He-ey!”  
  Riku turns on his side, bearing a pout betraying his frustration, or perhaps in his favor in being too cute to deny. But Tenn is strong, too strong to give in to crocodile tears. He gets out of bed, digging about his drawers without much expression, just like him to take everything with the end goal in mind. In this case, _stop Riku from being mad at me._  
  _“Grawr!”_ Tenn snarls, turns to Riku in one extravagant motion. With small bundled clothe strapped to his head and socks over his hands, he shouts, “You don’t need any stuffed animals! You’re brother bear is here to protect you from those troublemakers!”  
  Riku sits himself up on the bed, applauds his brothers dramatized performance in awe before smiling.  
  “Wow, bro! You’re such a good actor!” Riku laughs.  
  “It’s not an act! _Rahhh~!”_ Tenn smothers his brother, biting him on the shoulder.  
  “Ahah~ Ow~ Stop~ You’re gonna suffocate me! You’re way more dangerous than dust!”  
  “Then stop being mad at me!” Tenn says, hiding his face on Riku’s chest.  
  “Huh?” Riku interjects, “I’m not...” Sighing, he searches his brain for the best words to say. After a few minutes of overdrawn silence, Tenn’s patience starts to wear into worry.  
  “Eh? Did you die or something?” Tenn pats Riku’s oddly serious face.  
  “I’m thinking! Be quiet!”  
  And he is quiet, for an exceptional amount of time, until silence drifts into sleep.  
  “Ah, that’s it. I wasn’t really mad at you, I guess. I could never be mad at Tenn, but...” Riku tilts his head down at his brother, watching his sleeping face rise and fall to his breathing. Hey, wait a minute, “Don’t fall asleep when I’m trying to--!!” _Augh!_ Exasperated, Riku drops his head back on the mattress. Right, he couldn’t have even pushed Riku on the side of the bed with pillows.  
  _Big brothers are..._ dangerously cruel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing for Tenn is difficult... I don’t really understand what he’s thinking half the time... I hope I'm kind of accurate? Actually, half my motivation to write this was thinking about Tenn's gao gao.... He and lulu would be good bear buddies!!! Also, I don't really know what mystery anime disease Riku has, I just assumed it was asthma lol My family of smokers is full of asthmatics, actually! Horrible, ain't it?  
> As a child, I remember between me and my younger-older brother, our first stuffed animal was kind of a big deal. I really thought my first stuffed animal was gonna be with me even now! But I think theyre both in storage now... Still, it meant a lot. I can imagine how bright and happy Riku must have been about having a stuffed bear!! “He is my son and his name is phillip dont hurt him tenn-nii!!!! ;w;” www  
> Leave a comment... tell me stupid fights youve had with your stupid brothers and sisters w


End file.
